Chapter 3: Changes

The small family, and the alien, sat in the living room in silence for a few minutes. The humans were trying to get a firm hold on what questions were of the most priority to ask.

"Dregg, how soon do we have to leave for this other place?" Tom queried finally.

Dregg, of course, deliberated on his answer. It was now an entire family going, and not the single individual he had originally planned for.

'If I can convince them to go through the enhancements tonight, then I can give them two additional weeks to get their plans together, ' he thought.

Tom was watching Dregg, closely. He realized that the answer was slow in coming because his wife and son had altered Dregg's plan. That made him speculate on how long he really did have left if the alien had not interfered.

"I'm I that close to dying my gray friend?" he finally asked the thin gray alien.

Dregg sighed and looked at the three humans sitting in front of him.

"Yes, Tom, you are. I either take you all tonight, or you allow me to go ahead and give you the body enhancements. By doing that, I can give you an additional two weeks before you need to depart from this place."

Bets' astonishment was numbing.

"That means we were going to lose him either tonight, or tomorrow sometime!" she managed to utter softly.

"Tomorrow night at eleven pm, to be exact. But with your permission, all that will be erased, and will remain just a bad memory in your minds. I can even erase it from your minds, if you would like the freedom from the pain you would have suffer from just thinking about it," Dregg offered.

Bets shook her head firmly.

"No, it gives us a reason for what lies ahead. It will keep our hearts stronger, knowing what would have happened if we made the wrong choice here, tonight."

"So when do we leave for this body enhancement? Tommy asked excitedly.

Dregg looked at the three humans.

"We must leave now, as it will take over 8 hours to complete for most of you. Tommy's enhancement will be a little shorter since he is young, and age has not caused as much damage to his body," Dregg informed them.

Tom stood up. His knees creaked from too many operations that had tried to put him back together.

"Well, people, let's roll on out of here. I can't wait to not feel like a ninety-year-old man, anymore.

The three humans followed Dregg out into the backyard. The darkness still surrounded the yard, and the sky was overcast, now. The dew was still on the grass beneath their feet. Tommy looked around and didn't see a sign of a ship, or a place large enough to land one. This caused him to look up, as the most logical place for the ship to be.

Sure enough Dregg pointed a small device up in the air. A beam of blue light came down surrounding the four. Its soft glow warmed their bodies, and their eyes were filled with the blue light for a few seconds. When the light cleared from their eye's they were onboard Dregg's ship.

Tom was kind of surprised. He had expected a very Spartan metal look for everything. Instead, he found soft rich colored walls, and soft white lights everywhere.

"Welcome to the good ship Falash. Falash, this is Tom, Bets and their son Tommy." Dregg announced.

"Welcome aboard Tom, Bets, and Tommy. I am Falash, the ship's AI. If there is anything I or my bot's can do for you, please let me know," came a nice female voice from seemingly everywhere.

"Uh well thank you very much for your hospitality, Miss Falash," said a very perplexed Tom. He had never spoken to a computer before. He gathered quickly that Falash was at least a millennia ahead of what earth's technology was, right now. At the same time it gave him a feeling of peace, as to what was going to happen to his family, soon. With such advanced technology, Dregg was in a position to do the enhancements far better than Tom had originally thought.

"You are most welcome, Tom. Please follow Dregg to the regeneration chamber. I will be waiting there for you," came her reply from everywhere again.

Dregg led them down a long hallway, and entered a room through a sliding door. Inside the room it was unusually warm, with just the hint of moisture hanging in the air.

There were six tables, three on each side of the room. Dregg motioned them to the ones on the right. Standing in front of the almost surgical looking table, Tom noticed all of the instruments were hanging directly over each table. I hope I don't lose anything important while I'm asleep in here. He thought to himself, remembering the news last week where a poor guy went in to have his tonsils taken out, and through a clerical medical record screw up, he woke a with a vasectomy.

'You are totally safe in my hands Tom, ' came the voice of Falash in his mind. 'When I'm through with your body a vasectomy will be the last thing on your mind, ' she added with a little humor in her voice.

Tom, who was now lying on the bed, caught that last part as his eyes grew heavy.

'I hope that's a good thing she was referring to, ' he thought as the darkness closed in around him.

Bets lay on the table next to her husband and watched a soft green glow take shape over Tom's body. The glow seemed to grow less iridescent until she could no longer see her husband's body on the table. For a second panic overwhelmed her as she realized just how out there this as really was! Hell 10 hours ago she was watching Jeopardy and cussing out the idiot that couldn't recall who the day Pearl Harbor was attack by Japan!

'Be at peace Bets, all is well. Soon your family will be on such a great adventure, that this world will seem boring. Your will body will be better than it has ever been before, ' came the voice of Falash into her mind.

'Hell, I'm fifty-two years old, Miss Falash. Anything is an improvement to that. I have to admit though I will miss my daughter, who is staying behind. I was looking forward to hear the sound of little feet running around the house, again, ' Bets thought in her mind.